


Family

by lighteningboltfanatic



Category: 9-1-1 (TV), 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020) RPF
Genre: Brotherly Love, Family Fluff, Foster Care, Gen, Jealous Eddie Diaz, M/M, Multi, Not really though, Post-Canon, awesome brother Evan Buckley, just fluff, slight talk of traumatic events
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24120991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lighteningboltfanatic/pseuds/lighteningboltfanatic
Summary: What if Buck was in the foster care system and is Owen Strand's adopted son.Just a one-shot drabble with slight jealous Eddie Diaz and cute getting together fluff.Mostly Buck's family.I'm really bad at descriptions.Thanks to the 9-1-1 discord for helping out with this.
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Maddie Buckley, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Original Male Character(s), Evan “Buck” Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), TK Strand & Evan "Buck" Buckley
Comments: 6
Kudos: 509





	Family

It wasn’t entirely odd for people to call off for Christmas but it was odd for people to call off the entire week, especially if those people were Buck. Usually, people only called off if they had kids or whatnot, and Buck didn’t have much family that Eddie knew of besides Maddie and the fire-fam, all who lived in California, so when he went over to Buck’s house a week before Christmas and a suitcase sat by the door, he was more than confused. 

  
“You planning on going somewhere, Buck?” Eddie asked, trying to keep the accusatory tone out of his voice, not even sure himself why it was there. Buck, seemingly oblivious to the tone sips at his beer, “yeah.” It’s such a simple answer that it almost angers Eddie, he, however, doesn’t know why. “I know I promised Chris I would see him but I’ll be back the day after and spend the entire day with him then,” Buck quickly adds and Eddie’s anger melts off almost immediately, replaced with the adoration he feels towards the man who has clearly thought it all through. 

  
“So, where are you off to anyway?” Eddie asks, loosening his fingers around the neck of the bottle he was throttling. “Just visiting some family down in Texas.” That confused Eddie deeply, from all he knew, Buck’s parents lived in Pennsylvania and Buck nor Maddie seemed to have a particularly close relationship with either them. 

What did he know though?

  
“ _ You _ have family in Texas?  _ I  _ have family in Texas.” Eddie gawks which only earns a deep, belly laugh from the taller man. 

When Buck doesn’t answer, too busy laughing, Eddie decides on something else, “When do you leave?”   
“Uh…” Buck pauses, glancing at his watch that Eddie had bought him for his birthday. “In about seven hours.” Eddie laughs but he isn’t surprised Buck’s leaving so early, it’s Buck for crying out loud. “You want me to give you a lift, so you don’t have to leave your car at the airport?” Buck stares at him in shock but he can’t say anything because the oven beeps aggressively at the pair and Buck moves to pull out the casserole he had made, more of practice really for something he wanted to make during the week.    
“You sure?” Eddie just nods, already moving to grab plates and silverware. 

Eddie would do anything for Buck, he thinks this however and doesn’t speak it. Not when he’s eating dinner and listening to stories about Christopher’s science project or when he’s dragging himself to the airport to wave off his best friend at two A.M.   
If he says it to himself quietly while getting into bed, no one can vouch for it.

//////////////////////

By the time Buck landed, he was so exhausted that he barely even mumbled a hello to his dad, immediately collapsing on the couch the second he stepped inside his dad’s apartment.

“You think he’s going to sleep all day?”   
“He is a Strand, what do you think?”    
“I don’t sleep all day.”   
“Well, you’re really weird.”  
  
By the time Buck opened his eye’s, he's faced with two pairs of eyes ex ceptionally close to his face. 

“Jesus fucking Christ guys!” He jumps slightly, earning laughs from both his younger brothers. “I told them to leave you be but, you boys are impossible.” He hears his dad call and when he lifts his head, he catches him in the kitchen, probably making some incredible breakfast by the smells of it. “Give him some room, you weirdos.” Both men grumble but Luke gives Buck a quick hug before running over to help their dad while TK just sits down in a chair diagonal from the couch.  
  
Buck’s the first to speak, taking TK in. “You look really good, considering everything that’s happened.” TK just smiles, something bigger than a smirk but more heartfelt than a grin. “So do you.” Buck smiles in return as Owen calls for both of them.  
  
It’s not a secret among the Strand’s that they have some incredibly weird/bad luck between the three of the kids.   
TK was shot. Buck had been crushed by a firetruck, had the pulmonary embolism and because those two weren’t enough, he was also caught in the tsunami. Even Luke had some rough luck; he had been stabbed, went into cardiac arrest after smoke inhalation because he had run into his best friend’s burning house, and a concussion leading to hearing loss after getting the shit beaten out of him because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.   
The three men definitely kept their dad on his toes. 

“This is amazing, dad.” TK and Buck gush simultaneously. Luke grumbles under his breath, “I helped too.” Buck just laughs, tapping his brothers foot lightly in a sign of goodwill, which earns him a small smile from the youngest member of the Strand-clan.  
  
“So how’s Maddie doing?” Buck smiles at the mention of Maddie. He always loved how Owen never failed to include her despite her not legally being his, he still treated her as such. “She’s really good. Happier, healthier. I told you she’s working at dispatch, and she’s dating a co-worker of mine, Chimney.” Owen nodded but TK furrowed his eyebrows. “Chim-ney?” Buck bursts into laughter, readying himself with a comeback but the other Strand seemed to have the better idea. “How is that better than TK?” Luke slid back slightly, seemingly from being kicked and suddenly the two youngest were playing footsie under the table, Buck joining in soon after.    
Owen tries containing the mess but it was impossible as he laughed along. Having the three under the same roof was wonderful if not chaotic, and this was only the first day of the week. 

Owen glances at his watch and whistled, quickly gaining the three’s attention. “You, are gonna be late.” He pointed at Luke who paled, jumping quickly and running faster than the flash, coming out only minuted later with two different coloured shoes on and yelling out a distinct “bye” from the hallway.  
  
“What was that all about?” Buck asks but follows the other two’s lead in going back to eating. “He has therapy and then he’s going over to Judd’s because he promised to fix Judd’s truck,” Buck remembers Judd vaguely as a very large man who seems more than capable of fixing his own truck. TK seems to catch the look and reads his mind, nodding in agreement. “He tried fixing it but nearly cut the brake line instead.” Buck laughs, shaking his head.  
  
“So, tell us about LA.” Buck can’t help the smile that graces his face as he dives into stories about the City of Angels, which if it mostly is just him talking about Chris and Eddie, no one’s complaining. 

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“So turns out, he had cut the brake line,” is how Luke chooses to greet the three of them several hours later, walking through the door reeking of oil and covered in it too by the looks of it. “I have news also.” In true Luke fashion, he leaves it at that, moving to the fridge to pull out leftovers his dad had so kindly put away for him. “Well, are you gonna tell us?” TK asks, walking over to the island, quickly followed by both Buck and Owen. “We’re having family dinner on Christmas Eve-Eve at Judd’s, and Grace insists you bring your boyfriend.” TK blushes immediately and Buck’s head snaps over at his brother who’s suddenly half a shade away from camouflaging into the firetruck. “Did you finally get your head out of your ass?” TK only blushes harder but Owen seems to take pity on him and looks at Buck, “what about you Buck, how are you and Eddie?” Buck gapes at his father and Luke bursts into laughter around his cauliflower crusted pizza.  
  
“Traitor.” Owen just throws his hands up and suddenly Buck looks at Luke who’s hands are already in the air as he shakes his head. “Don’t look at me. I’m not nearly as bad at relationships as you two.” Buck glances over at his dad for help but Owen just shakes his head. 

“Seriously Buck, what is going on with you and Eddie?” TK joins in, silently fighting with Luke over a slice of pizza. “We’re just friends.” The commotion stops immediately and three facial variations of “what the fuck” stares back at him. “What?” Luke composes himself the quickest, wiping his hands in TK’s hair to really rile up the other Strand, who in response, dashes to the other side of the counter and wrestles with his younger brother, only stopping when he begins talking.  
  
“You and your “best friend” are co-parenting his son. That’s not exactly normal dude. Also, you have a gigantic fucking crush on the dude and I’m sorry, but if I get one more text about this Eddie dude, I’m going to punch you.” TK doesn’t say anything, just pointing at Luke and nodding, which is the absolute opposite of helpful.  
  
“What they’re trying to say is that you really like him Buck, we all can see that and you just need to take a chance.” Buck sighs, as they all bid him goodnight to let him sit with the thoughts, and he has a lot to think about.  
  
Buck knows he likes Eddie, has for a while. But he doesn’t know what to do. Obviously, the logical step would be to talk to him but Buck has enough fear built up in him that it immediately turns down every thought even entertaining the idea. He tells himself that he has to think about Chris, but as both of his brothers and even his sister have told him, Chris loves him and would probably love having him around even more. Buck doesn’t say that he only uses Chris as an excuse when in reality, he personally is just straight-up terrified. 

Terrified of losing Eddie, again. 

Terrified of losing Chris, again. 

Terrified of showing his feelings and getting turned away for them, again.    
He’s just terrified. 

  
  


//////////////////////////////

“He promised to be here.” Chris pouts on Christmas eve when Eddie tells him Buck won’t be coming by that day or the day after. Eddie wants to be mad but it’s Buck, he can’t find it in himself to be mad at him, not for wanting to be with his family, even if it stings because he thought  _ they were his family _ . He realizes how selfish that is but when it comes to Buck, he can’t help but be incredibly selfish.  
  
“And he promises he will be here the day after Christmas, he just had to go see his family. If I didn’t work today, you know we would’ve gone and seen the family too.” Chris sighs but nods, shoving a mostly milk spoonful into his mouth. “Can I call him later?” Eddie nods immediately. “Just ask Abuela, I’m sure she would be more than happy to let you.” Chris grins, quickly shovelling through his cereal as if it’ll make the day go by faster. Eddie doesn’t mention anything though, only keeping a closer eye to make sure he doesn’t choke. 

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From the time Eddie drops Christopher off at his Abuela’s to the time dinner rolls around, Chris mentions calling Buck a grand total of forty-two times, Abuela counted. She loves that boy, he makes both of her boys genuinely happy but she almost wants to throttle him for leaving her with two pouty messes. Chris is just a kid, he’s allowed to pout but when Eddie had dropped his son off, he looked his a picked puppy.  
  
“Nieto, I promise as soon as you wash your hands we will call your Buck.” Chris’ crutches click-clack against the floor and she can hear the running water before he’s next to her on her couch, begging with his eyes.    
  
She just laughs, handing the phone off to him because he understands it much better than her. Within seconds, Buck’s grinning face is on the screen and Chris lets out a very loud and very cheerful, “Buck!”

“Hey, buddy!” Buck grins, the amount of love and warmth pouring off him does not go unnoticed by Abuela. 

“Hola, Buck” Abuela smiles at the young man, watching as he smiles, greeting her in return, “hola, Abuela.” Abuela leaves the two to talk, deciding on cleaning up her kitchen, but she can still clearly hear the two due to the close proximity of the couch to the kitchen and the loudness of Chris’s voice.  
  
“I miss you so much Bucky!” Chris gushes after several minutes of back and forth conversation. “I miss you too. Hey, you wanna meet my brother? My dad and other brother are working right now but Luke’s here.” Abuela glances into the living room and Chris nods enthusiastically and you can’t blame her for being curious as she walks up to the couch just as the phone is turned onto a dark-haired, tanned individual who looks more related to Eddie than he does Buck.    
  
“You must be the famous Chris!” The boy grins, dark eyes wide as he gushes at the nine-year-old. “That’s me! You’re his brother? I like your hair!” The man, Luke she recalls, laughs, nodding in reply. “Yep, I’m Luke. I hear you like dinosaurs?” The two stay in deep conversation about dinosaurs and legos and eventually even penguins for nearly half an hour before Abuela has to cut the call short for two reasons, Eddie is calling and her phone is near dead.    
“Bye Buck! Bye Luke!” Both men wave bye as Abuela takes the phone into the other room to talk to Eddie, leaving her grandson to get ready for bed.    
  
“Hola Abeula, is everything going okay?” Abuela almost rolls her eyes. She raised many kids and grandkids, she could, of course, manage one night with her angel of a grandson.    
“ ¡Por supuesto! Mi Nieto is an angel.” Eddie just laughs in return. “That boy sure loves Buck, drained my battery.” Abuela grins and she can hear her grandson laughing again. “Yeah, he does,” Abuela remembers Buck’s brother and the question gnaws at her. “Does Buck have a brother?”    
  
“A brother? No...not that I know of.” Abuela almost regrets asking, hearing the almost sad tone seeping through the phone. But she can’t ask anything more because the alarm blares through the phone. “I gotta go, bye Abuela!” Eddie yells and is gone before she can say anything.    
  
On her way to check on her grandson, she only hopes that those two figure out whatever is going on between them, for both their sakes and Christophers. 

  
  


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Despite two of the three brothers being grown men and the youngest being nearly eighteen, they’re all jumping on Owen at nearly eight am, a blessing in his book that they even let him sleep in that long.  
  
“It’s Christmas, wake your old ass up!” His youngest yells and he immediately takes hold, tickling the dark-haired boy into the bed which only earns his own tickling session by his two eldest.    
  
“I surrender! Oh, I surrender!” They all laugh, eventually making their way into the living room that is crowded by a crap ton of presents, all of them spilling out from under the tree and down most of the wall. “You think we all went a little overboard?” All four men look at each other, shaking their heads respectively.    
As tradition calls for, they open presents youngest to oldest, before breakfast.    
  
Luke is more than happy to oblige for the tradition and nearly tackles his father who had not only gotten him hockey tickets but had also gotten him a new pair of hearing aids for his birthday. 

Buck nearly dies of happiness when Luke disappeared, coming back with a painting of Eddie, Buck, Chris and a dinosaur, a painting designed by him but painted by his partner, Serena. 

(If Buck hangs it in his living room the second it gets sent to his house, it’s nobodies business but his own.)  
  
“Thank you, L.” Luke shakes his head, already watching their dad as he begins opening his presents.  
  
The day went smoothly, except for a small bump when they were making Christmas pancakes and most of the batter ended up on the floor. But then Carlos came to join them and the two brothers took it in their power to embarrass the absolute shit out of the middle child, telling embarrassing stories and Owen was more than happy to oblige in bringing out family tapes once Serena came over, much to both Tk’s and Luke’s dismay.  
  
Nearing midnight, Buck ducked out from the living room to find his dad at the island in the kitchen.   
“You alright old man?” Owen only grins, nodding. “With my three boys around me, of course, I’m all right.” Buck just smiles, hugging his old man tightly.  
Looking back into the living room, Buck realizes not only does he have a family here, a family whom he loves, but he also has a family in LA, one he needs to talk to. 

  
  


//////////////////////////////////////

“Eddie, why are you calling me at almost two AM?” Maddie groans into the phone because she would much rather be sleeping then talking to her brothers crush at two AM.  
“Yes, it’s late. Do you and Buck have a brother?” Maddie does a double-take, blinking into the dark as the words process. “Oh! You’re talking about TK and Luke.” She runs her hand through her hair, flipping the light on. “You have two brothers?” Maddie begins to realize Buck probably hasn’t told him. “Buck does, listen, you should talk to him about this when he gets home today, okay?” It’s not that Maddie doesn’t consider Luke and TK brothers, she does, and she loves them more than anything, but, they’re Buck’s brothers more than hers and she would never take that away from him.   
  


“But-” Maddie shakes her head, cutting him off before he can even begin to argue with her. “Talk to him when he lands, Eddie.” With that she clicks the phone and goes back to sleep, cursing all the idiot men in her life.

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By the time Buck is at the airport, it’s much more emotional than it should be, with a lot more hugging. “I won’t be gone forever.” He laughs into both his brother’s shoulder despite hugging them tighter. “Just don’t die before I turn eighteen, will ya?” Buck almost points out that that’s only a week away but chooses not to due to his luck, instead, nodding and ruffling the youngest brothers hair. He turns to his dad who’s already tearing up a little and he launches himself at him, the two hugging each other tightly.    
  
“Listen to your brother, alright? Be safe.” Buck nods, smiling softly as they pull away. “You too, and keep me updated on your treatment, alright?” Owen nods, combing a hand through his eldest’s hair before Buck bids them adieu. Of course Luke can’t help himself as he yells through the airport, “and tell Eddie you like him!” 

//////////////////////////////////

“BUCK!” Buck barely has the time to react before he has a nine-year-old body in his arms, knocked back into the driveway as he holds onto his best friend tightly. “I missed you, little man!” He grins into Chris’s hair, carefully setting him back down. “I missed you too! Daddy tried to make your pancakes but he burnt them a little bit. Can you make dinner tonight, please?” Buck laughs as the two walks through the door, Eddie feigning hurt at the conversation.  
  
“You wound me, Chris. My own son!” Eddie dramatically drapes himself across the couch earning laughter to explode from both boys and yeah, Eddie won’t lie to say this feels like home. 

Hours later when Chris is in bed after opening, even more, presents and Buck and Eddie both have gotten a little teary-eyed over there gifts, they’re sat at the island drinking beers.    
  
“So uh, you have family down in Texas. And brothers?” Buck looks confused at Eddie before the realization dawns on him. “You’ve been talking to Maddie.” Eddie just drinks more of his beer and Buck can’t help chuckling, shaking his head at this idiotic man he loves.    
  
“Yes, I have two brother’s, Luke and TK, who live in Texas with our dad.” Buck pauses, swallowing more of his beer as Eddie looks at him curiously. “I was in the foster care system and got put into his house when they still lived up in New York. My youngest brother, Luke, was also in the system. Both me and Luke were adopted by Owen. Maddie, legally, isn’t their brother because she was already out of the house and with Doug by the time I went in.” Buck finishes the story as he finishes his beer, nonchalantly moving to get another one but Eddie just gawks.    
  
Buck stares fondly as Eddie struggles for an answer.    
  
Buck speaks up before Eddie can, “You know, both of my brothers think I’m an idiot because I haven’t told you how I feel. Everyone thinks that really. Maddie, my dad, even your Abuela said something to me.” Buck laughs and Eddie clammers to his feet quickly, stepping closer to buck.    
“And...and how do you feel about me?” If Buck hears the waiver in Eddie’s voice, he doesn’t say anything, only stepping closer until their faces are mere centimetres away and they’re breathing into each other faces. 

Buck closes the gap and kisses Eddie. It’s soft yet full of emotion, three years of wanting and love smashed into one kiss. 

They’re both panting slightly when they pull away, from the shock of it all more than anything.    
  
“I love you, Edmundo Diaz.”   
  
“And I love you, Evan Buckley…”

“Strand.”   
  
They both grin, foreheads pressed against each other, beers forgotten. 

“And I love you, Evan Buckley-Strand.   
  
When Chris finds them in a tangle of limbs in Eddie’s bed in the morning, no one says anything. 

**Author's Note:**

> ¡Por supuesto! means Of course  
> Mi Nieto means my grandson


End file.
